Inbetween watching hours upon hours of Dexter on my PS3 I’ve been trying to catch as many small venue shows as I can every week without going broke. I’ve been a fan of smaller venues since my first rock show at the Fireside Bowl when I was 15. It was a great show--not only cause one of the bands was awesome--but because 2 of the bands were fucking terrible. (One of them was called, The Fux--no joke.)

The show this weekend at the Beat Kitchen was something I decided to check out because of a band I saw the day after Christmas, The Action Blast. We’re doing an interview on them this upcoming week, and with little, to no information about them on the Internet, I decided it was best to see a second showing of them live. I’m sure like many other Beat Kitchen virgins, I had no idea what time to get there to make sure I saw the show. Naturally, I showed up at 5pm, right when the doors opened, and nursed $2 Blatz beers for the next four hours.

Onasis

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg0AclMymxY

It’s a tall order to open up at a small venue early in the earlier hours of the night for any band. Onasis had their work cut out for them, and with The FUX fresh in mind, I was almost sure I was going to have to retreat into the front half of Beat Kitchen to escape the noise, but I was pleasantly surprised to say the least. Onasis a great all around band that I think will be getting more attention as they spread the word. I grabbed a copy of their EP and have been listening to it all weekend. “We’re like Oasis, with an, ‘n,’ but pronounced Onaaasis.” Had a few laughs, and enjoyed the music too. My only advice to the guys is to put your track listing on the EP!

madeAVAIL

www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1jM364ThuQ

Solid all around band, and even had classic, “Hey!” chants with the audience--nothing gets me fist pumping faster. MadeAVAIL reminds me of a heavier version of Saves the Day--which is a major compliment. They’re also a band, “after my own heart.” They’ve started what they call their Resistance movement. An uphill battle as anyone involved with social movements knows--but an admirable mission no less. (Bonus points if you can name what movie I’m quoting above.)

Artifex Pereo

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYmU6U3Yg08

Anthony from The Action Blast spoke very highly of these guys, and I wish I would have been able to see them, but they had van troubles and couldn’t make it to the show. Word is they need some help paying off the damages to their road vehicle. Check them out and help ‘em out if ya can.

The Fireship

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpdTugNkoU0

The Fireship brought the whole family to the show. Another solid local group that’s opening up for a local Chicago favorite Empires February 12th at Lincoln Hall. I’m already looking forward to it.

The Action Blast

One of my newest car-mix essential rock groups The Action Blast didn’t disappoint. I can’t help but think about a band from the past that also got started in Chicago that’s one of the most successful rock bands of late, Disturbed. Sprinkle in a bit of influence musically from what I think sounds a bit like mainstream favorites Coheed and Cambria and you have yourself a live rock show that we’ll be following closely here at Assault HQ. Same thing goes for you guys as the dudes from Onasis, write the tracklist on the EP! There’s one song I still can’t figure out the name of based on the MySpace.

Great show all around. Well worth the $8 bucks + $20 in Blatz beer, and another $20 on merch.

It’s been almost a year since I last had a chance to see Rise Against, as they’ve been touring all around the world the past year, but they’re finally coming back this December 18th for their 10th anniversary show at my favorite venue in Chicago, The Metro.

The band recently released a video for the song Savior off of their most recent album, Appeal to Reason. It compliments many of their previous videos carrying some of the same themes, as well as being shot in and around Chicago. (From what this Chicago native can tell)

Unlike their previous work, however, this video has a somewhat humorous take on the current state of the union. The same themes from their previous videos are present, but this time, instead of being blatantly forward with their message they’ve decided to use what is possibly a more powerful storytelling technique: humor. (Something we at Assault are quite fond of.)

You’ll have to watch the video for yourself to see what I mean, but I have to say that I agree with the central core messages of the video which are forgiveness and openness.

Rise Against also released a new Digital 45 this week on iTunes with the single, “Grammatizator” as well as a live version of the song, “Hero of War”. You can get it now on iTunes.

Along with the video there’s a quick making of featurette with some insight from the director, Kevin Kerslake who provides some interesting insight into the background of the song and music video:

And just in case you’re a fan of orchestral music, The Vitamin String Quartet did several covers of Rise Against’s songs. It’s the first time I ever considered a group of classical musicians totally badass. You can get it in iTunes here.